In a May 8 editorial the Manchester Union Leader chides the national media for it's coverage of the SC GOP Debate and their need to dictate to us who the acceptable candidates are for the party's nomination.

Fast forward to today and the Union Leader, along with other debate sponsors CNN and WMUR, is guilty of the same favoritism toward the media selected candidates that they wrote against by excluding a viable, nationally recognized candidate in Gary Johnson.

The national media have already settled on a narrative for the 2012 Republican presidential primary: It’s the nationally known candidates who dress, talk and act like Washington insiders vs. everybody else.

The first Republican presidential primary debate of the 2012 cycle took place last Thursday in South Carolina. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee declined to attend. That left the national press breathlessly proclaiming that the debate pitted “top-tier” candidate Tim Pawlenty vs. “lower tier” candidates Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Gary Johnson. Interesting.
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The national media would do themselves and the voters a favor if they stopped trying to predict the future and just reported the facts. It is up to primary voters, not the Washington press corps, to decide who can, should and will win the nomination.

Yet as we sit today, The Union Leader, along with CNN and WMUR, is guilty of the same thing that it wrote against less than a month ago; determining "who can, should and will win the nomination" by excluding former NM Governor Gary Johnson from the June 13 debate.

Governor Johnson is a recognized national candidate for President who polled at 3% in the most recent Gallup poll, ahead of invitees Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum and participated in the May 5 SC debate as well. To not invite Gary Johnson to the NH debate, which you are sponsoring, is hypocrisy at the highest level.

As a former New Englander, with friends and family who live in the Granite State, I would hope that you reconsider your decision and extend a belated invitation to Gary Johnson to let his opinions be heard in Manchester on June 13.

Thank you

Chris Walsh
San Tan Valley AZ

Please continue to apply pressure to CNN, WMUR and the Union Leader to include Gary Johnson in the June 13 debate.

Though I admit to mixed feelings about that petition linked above me... I can't see conservatives (or moderates) heading to a progressive site to support a libertarian Republican candidate. I'm concerned that the proximity of rain-forest friendly Girl Scout cookies and pro-union sentiments over there will backfire against GJ. Wish they'd chosen a neutral venue...

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